


Neither Lovely Nor Temperate

by nothorse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: summer of giles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-14
Updated: 2009-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 18:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothorse/pseuds/nothorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few snapshot of a difficult summer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neither Lovely Nor Temperate

**Author's Note:**

> What was I thinking when I entered [](http://community.livejournal.com/summer_of_giles/profile)[**summer_of_giles**](http://community.livejournal.com/summer_of_giles/)? This has been the most frustrating thing to write. I have started about 4 different stories and none of them went anywhere. As I don't want to default, here's a few snapshot of a difficult summer.

_According to von Junzt, the cult of Dagon was already established in 320 B.C. This is of course the earliest dating in scholarly history, but in the light of Dumezil's later work we have to assume that the establishment of the cult seems to have happened at different times throughout the history of mankind. Thus we can _

Giles throws down his pen with a mumbled curse. Sitting here, writing a scholarly report on the various cults involved in last year's catastrophe when Buffy is dead, when --.

Buffy saved the world.

Buffy is dead.

Buffy jumped to her death to save the world.

Buffy is dead.

Buffy.

With an angry snarl, Giles sweeps his desk clean, the crash of a breaking teacup only registering subconsciously.

\--*--

 

Any Distraction is a good distraction.

So he accompanies Masterson to San Diego to introduce yet another potential to a scary future. The girl is sweet. A bit shy and oh so young. Maybe he shouldn't have come along. Two scary adults are worse than one. But she takes it well, and so do her parents.

Was Buffy ever that young? Maybe. But she was never shy. She was a force, even on her first day in Sunnydale. She didn't half hesitate to tell him she was retired.

And now she is.

Caridad will be safe with her Watcher. As long as she doesn't get called.

\--*--

 

Research. After a "proper period of grief", they have him on research. "Get back on the horse," they say.

So carefully packs up the volumes he had checked out and prepares them for the courier. He goes through the catalogue to order more paper, vellum and papyri to keep him occupied. All done through mail and couriers. All done in his office in the Magic Box. He hasn't stepped into a library for years now.

She liked the library. They all did. Never mind Hellmouth, Vampires or the occasional student checking out books. The library was home.

The library is gone. Two years now. And she is. Two months, four days and ten and a half hours.

By the time the books are back in England, it will be two months, six days and probably seven hours.

\--*--

 

The girls are doing well. He rarely visits the house. Dawn often comes to the Magic Box, ostensibly helping, for company when the girls are at college. Dawn is coping, sometimes all teenage girl babbling about boys and movie stars and television, sometimes quiet. That's when he comes out, takes one of his books and sits down beside her. They don't talk. They don't have to talk. They both know who it is they are missing. Sometimes Dawn talks about her. Little things, domestic things.

How she always took ages in the shower. How she.

Then she falls silent and reads or draws. She'll cope. She has to. He has to.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Darling Buds of May (Rough Winds Hardstep Dub)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/188903) by [Quinara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quinara/pseuds/Quinara)




End file.
